St Austell Brewery

Brewery tours

Visitor Centre

Pubs with accommodation

St Austell Brewery and Visitor Centre is situated a couple of miles from the coast near the centre of St Austell.

The brewery itself began 150 years ago when a young Cornishman called Walter Hicks mortgaged his farm. It was 1851 and with £1,500 Walter Hicks first registered as a Maltser. His rapid success meant that in 1869 he built a steam brewery and fine dwelling house, this site was outgrown within 25 years and so in 1893 a new, larger brewery was built on the site that is there today. St Austell Brewery has remained in the Hicks family throughout and even today there are numerous descendants involved in the Brewery as shareholders, and some more actively as directors and employees.

St Austell Brewery is famous for its bottled and cask Tribute Ale, winner of the SIBA South West awards 2007. Other cask beers include HSD, Proper Job, Black Prince, Dartmoor and Tinners. The Brewery also has a large wine and spirits business with the annual wine fair being the largest outside London.

The Visitor Centre has an interactive museum where you can also watch the brewing process taking place. At the end of tour the Hicks Bar allows you to sample some of the products which are available to purchase in the licenced Brewery Shop. The St Austell Brewery Visitor Centre also serves delicious light lunches, desserts, cream teas and hot or cold drinks.

Many for the St Austell Brewery pubs have accommodation and are the perfect place to stay after enjoying a good dinner and sampling the local ales. The photos on this page are just a small selection of what is available on their web site.